P-51 Mustang Brotherhood
#1203
Senior Member

Updates on Swamp Fox:


I didn't "need" this much opening to clear the engine, but wanted it a bit bigger for cooling. I only needed a small slit to clear the front two corners of the top fin, and a keyed hole if sorts to clear the plug and plug wire. Just didn't think that would be enough air basically relying on the lower opening in the cowl.




I didn't "need" this much opening to clear the engine, but wanted it a bit bigger for cooling. I only needed a small slit to clear the front two corners of the top fin, and a keyed hole if sorts to clear the plug and plug wire. Just didn't think that would be enough air basically relying on the lower opening in the cowl.


Last edited by Txmustangflyer; 05-05-2022 at 04:15 PM.
#1204
Senior Member

Fixing poor factory paint

After low tack masking tape

After sanding all paint off, prepping plastic surface repainting with primer, Tamiya TS-76 Silver, and Tamiya Satin Clear
Its not an exact match, but good enough till I finish building a Fokkerc P-38 and then strip and flitemetal her.

After low tack masking tape

After sanding all paint off, prepping plastic surface repainting with primer, Tamiya TS-76 Silver, and Tamiya Satin Clear
Its not an exact match, but good enough till I finish building a Fokkerc P-38 and then strip and flitemetal her.
#1205
Senior Member

Thats most of the makers.
As far as air or electric, well..its like ford vs chevy.
Its going to boil down to a. Space, and b. Convenience.
Personally, I've ran pneumatics, and I've ran electric. I came to hate my pneumatics. No matter how hard I tried, I always had a small leak, somewhere. I'd clamp and ca the fittings, rip it all out and replace it all, etc and no matter what..it would leak down. I ended up swapping to electrics and have stuck with them ever since.
That was years ago. Things have changed somewhat on the pneumatic side of things. You can now have an onboard "recovery" compressor that refills the tanks in flite, no more three or four cycles then out of air. They aren't big, weigh about the same as some lipo packs etc. Bout as big as the palm of your hand, so thats an option, if you have the room. Otherwise, if you go air, you know the drill, wire clamp and ca every joint, at every fitting, and use good, quality valves.
which brand, kinda ford vs chevy again...just look hard at how each are made..one manufacturer may have a wimpy set at one weight, a good set for another...
Electrics, since its a kit..Elektron all the way, hooked to a xicoy LG15 controller.
Last edited by Txmustangflyer; 05-05-2022 at 04:31 PM.
#1206

My Feedback: (158)

Current Stang, assembled in about 2 weeks after loosing my Zero, Did not want the same as everyone else BBD scheme so Callie Graphics did the job
Originally had Robart Electric system married to Sierra Gear, but I had nothing but trouble so they were converted back to Air and have had zero problem since
Most likely this will get stripped glassed and re-schemed at the end of this flying season

Originally had Robart Electric system married to Sierra Gear, but I had nothing but trouble so they were converted back to Air and have had zero problem since
Most likely this will get stripped glassed and re-schemed at the end of this flying season


Last edited by scale only 4 me; 05-06-2022 at 03:58 AM.
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fw190 (09-30-2022)
#1214

Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Bruges, BELGIUM
Posts: 3
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Hi,
My name is Patrick and I live in Bruges, Belgium.
We are desperate looking for the plans of a Top Flite Giant Scale P51 Kit (TOPA0400) to repair a fuselage and part of the wing.
Is there someone who could scan the plans and email them as PDF,TIFF or other format ?
We are willing to pay you a Paypal fee for the effort.
Best Regards,
Patrick
Belgium
My name is Patrick and I live in Bruges, Belgium.
We are desperate looking for the plans of a Top Flite Giant Scale P51 Kit (TOPA0400) to repair a fuselage and part of the wing.
Is there someone who could scan the plans and email them as PDF,TIFF or other format ?
We are willing to pay you a Paypal fee for the effort.
Best Regards,
Patrick
Belgium
#1217

My Feedback: (65)

Hello Patrick.
you might look at http://www.planesgoneby.com/ to see what they have.

you might look at http://www.planesgoneby.com/ to see what they have.

Hi,
My name is Patrick and I live in Bruges, Belgium.
We are desperate looking for the plans of a Top Flite Giant Scale P51 Kit (TOPA0400) to repair a fuselage and part of the wing.
Is there someone who could scan the plans and email them as PDF,TIFF or other format ?
We are willing to pay you a Paypal fee for the effort.
Best Regards,
Patrick
Belgium
My name is Patrick and I live in Bruges, Belgium.
We are desperate looking for the plans of a Top Flite Giant Scale P51 Kit (TOPA0400) to repair a fuselage and part of the wing.
Is there someone who could scan the plans and email them as PDF,TIFF or other format ?
We are willing to pay you a Paypal fee for the effort.
Best Regards,
Patrick
Belgium
#1218

My Feedback: (158)
#1219



My beloved P51 which ive had since 2012. It has served me well over this last 11 years and is still flying well.
#1220
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2023
Location: California
Posts: 2
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Does anyone belonging to this thread have any information as to where I can get a copy of the Top Flite giant Scale Gold Edition P51D Mustang Plans. I'm building the 65' version now and have the cowl and air scoop for the 84.5' version. I found the manual for the giant scale but have been unfortunate in locating the plans. If anyone can help I would highly appreciate the help.
Many thanks
Robert M
Overland47
Many thanks
Robert M
Overland47
#1221

My Feedback: (1)

People had been selling copies of the plans on ebay but seems they're missing in action now... .
check out the top flite group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2556...ibextid=NSMWBT
check out the top flite group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2556...ibextid=NSMWBT
#1223
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2023
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acdii,
As in full scale aircraft, scale model aircraft need gentle application of power on and power off. The stronger the motor the gentler you must be. Scale model aircraft do not obey the rules of RC sport and 3D aerodynamics. Scale models almost always have smaller wing area and tail surfaces and the wing loading is much higher than sport and 3D. The pilots who always recommend you use a nose heavy CG forget that this will increase the angle of attack and stall angle at all speeds making the plane ALWAYS closer to its critical stall angle AT ANY SPEED. You should maiden the plane at the middle of the manufacturer's recommended CG range and test it at high altitude to see what happens when it stalls. Nose heavy planes, when stalled in level flight usually just drop the nose and lose altitude until the pilot releases up elevator and recovers. What they don't tell you is that in other stall conditions, sometimes violent and unpredictable snap stalls occur, and depending on how much air is left makes quick judgment calls necessary to get a stall recovery.
On the other hand, properly balanced planes have a lower angle of attack in flight and more room before the critical stall angle is reached. This translates to a plane that is more responsive to less control input, has a lower level stall speed, and is much less likely to get into an accelerated stall when maneuvering. Take the CG just a smidgen more tail heavy and you have a beast that can't slow up for landing and won't easily recover from a stall or stall-spin because it is trying to backup when stalled. At approach and landing and even low takeoff speed a tail heavy plane will snap and head for the hard place.
When I am fine tuning the CG on a plane type that is new to me I start at the recommended CG and add small amounts of rearward CG change (never more than 1/8 inch at a time, or 1/16 inch on smaller planes), until I see a slight porpoise in pitch in level flight (or no improvement from the last CG change). Don't be tempted to try aerobatics until the CG is like you want it. Then when I think I have found the most rearward CG for the plane I move the CG back toward nose heavy 1/4 inch for Giant scale or 1/8-1/16 inch for smaller planes.
The pilots who try to get you to set CG by using their favorite climbing/diving pitch change test are usually flying an light, aerobatic model with oversized control surfaces. I know how to do that but don't use it on scale models. A sport/3D model with huge horizontal/vertical surfaces will fly successfully even when it is grossly tail heavy because the oversize tail moves the center of lift way back on the wing. This is how 3D planes are able to hover and do high alpha maneuvers close to the ground, given a high power to weight ratio.
That being said, I will never recommend that a pilot stall test his heavy warbird. Even if it has forgiving stall characteristics there may not be enough altitude for a recovery. If you want to practice your stall recovery skills, use a sport plane and wring it out, it is cheaper and it will teach you the necessary instinctive reflex actions you may need for that warbird. When I am flying my warbirds I am always on the lookout for the slightest hint of a departure from my planned flight path.
As in full scale aircraft, scale model aircraft need gentle application of power on and power off. The stronger the motor the gentler you must be. Scale model aircraft do not obey the rules of RC sport and 3D aerodynamics. Scale models almost always have smaller wing area and tail surfaces and the wing loading is much higher than sport and 3D. The pilots who always recommend you use a nose heavy CG forget that this will increase the angle of attack and stall angle at all speeds making the plane ALWAYS closer to its critical stall angle AT ANY SPEED. You should maiden the plane at the middle of the manufacturer's recommended CG range and test it at high altitude to see what happens when it stalls. Nose heavy planes, when stalled in level flight usually just drop the nose and lose altitude until the pilot releases up elevator and recovers. What they don't tell you is that in other stall conditions, sometimes violent and unpredictable snap stalls occur, and depending on how much air is left makes quick judgment calls necessary to get a stall recovery.
On the other hand, properly balanced planes have a lower angle of attack in flight and more room before the critical stall angle is reached. This translates to a plane that is more responsive to less control input, has a lower level stall speed, and is much less likely to get into an accelerated stall when maneuvering. Take the CG just a smidgen more tail heavy and you have a beast that can't slow up for landing and won't easily recover from a stall or stall-spin because it is trying to backup when stalled. At approach and landing and even low takeoff speed a tail heavy plane will snap and head for the hard place.
When I am fine tuning the CG on a plane type that is new to me I start at the recommended CG and add small amounts of rearward CG change (never more than 1/8 inch at a time, or 1/16 inch on smaller planes), until I see a slight porpoise in pitch in level flight (or no improvement from the last CG change). Don't be tempted to try aerobatics until the CG is like you want it. Then when I think I have found the most rearward CG for the plane I move the CG back toward nose heavy 1/4 inch for Giant scale or 1/8-1/16 inch for smaller planes.
The pilots who try to get you to set CG by using their favorite climbing/diving pitch change test are usually flying an light, aerobatic model with oversized control surfaces. I know how to do that but don't use it on scale models. A sport/3D model with huge horizontal/vertical surfaces will fly successfully even when it is grossly tail heavy because the oversize tail moves the center of lift way back on the wing. This is how 3D planes are able to hover and do high alpha maneuvers close to the ground, given a high power to weight ratio.
That being said, I will never recommend that a pilot stall test his heavy warbird. Even if it has forgiving stall characteristics there may not be enough altitude for a recovery. If you want to practice your stall recovery skills, use a sport plane and wring it out, it is cheaper and it will teach you the necessary instinctive reflex actions you may need for that warbird. When I am flying my warbirds I am always on the lookout for the slightest hint of a departure from my planned flight path.